Glaucoma and the Internet

Purpose Glaucoma has received very little attention in terms of how the internet influences patient behaviour. We assessed the quality of information accessed by sufferers from glaucoma using the internet. Methods The word ‘glaucoma’ was subjected to an advanced keyword search. This analyses average monthly search volumes over a 12 month period using the Google search engine. The search term ‘glaucoma’ was then inputted into Google and the first 5 pages of websites studied using a validated instrument. The 4 criteria published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) for qualifying information from the internet were used in the analysis, yielding a possible score of between 0 and 4. Results 50 websites were studied. All 4 criteria were satisfied by 4% of sites; 3 criteria were met by 38%; 2 criteria by 6%; 1 criterion by 24%. 28% of sites scored zero for objective quality of information on glaucoma. Superior scores were achieved by peer‐reviewed journals and medipedias (online medical encyclopedias). Counter‐intuitively the websites of professional bodies including academic institutions scored poorly (mean 0.3, median 0, mode 0). Information provided by charities scored poorly also (mean 0.25, median 0, mode 0). The websites of public hospitals scored above average (mean of 3 (mode 3, median 3). This is different from the quality of information available in other fields such as retinopathy of prematurity, though is, overall, superior to the quality of information found recently in areas of oculoplastic surgery. Conclusion The quality of information accessed by patients on glaucoma is in need of improvement. This data is topical and of relevance to both clinicians and their patients in an age where more and more patients use the internet as a resource for healthcare information and misinformation.